President Trump defied the odds to create a conservative majority on the Supreme Court. The court now has a 6-3 conservative advantage.
Democrats have threatened to “pack the court” so they could add liberal justices to it. But there are many obstacles to that goal.
One of their biggest mistakes was to urge RBG to stay on until it was too late. Her passing gave Trump a chance to add yet another justice.
And it looks like another justice isn’t about to make the same mistake. From the Washington Examiner:
Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer has plans to retire but not anytime soon.
“Eventually I’ll retire, sure I will,” he told Slate in a wide-ranging interview. “And it’s hard to know exactly when.”
… Following the death of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who famously shut down President Barack Obama’s attempts to make her retire, Breyer began facing an uptick in suggestions from the Left that he consider his own retirement.
Although he refused to say when, Justice Breyer said he will retire when he is ready. This is the opposite of Ruth Bader Ginsberg, who ignored calls from the left to leave the court.
And then Trump filled her seat with conservative Amy Coney Barrett.
Justice Breyer claims he’s not bowing to political pressure, but his decision to leave the court might come sooner than anyone expects. At 82 years of age, it’s not like he’s got decades more on the bench.
This has all the pundits spinning their wheels in speculation. If Breyer, a Clinton-appointed justice, retires, one of the liberal seats on the bench is open.
If Biden is president, then he can put another (perhaps more radical) liberal justice on the bench. But if Trump earns a second term, he will most likely appoint another conservative.
We also have to consider the example set by Breyer. If he retires, he will do so in a number of years. Older conservative justices will also be thinking at some point about retirement in the coming years.
If that happens, a President Biden could chip away at Trump’s conservative majority.
What is certain is that Breyer has a very different view of his role on the bench as RBG did. He does not plan on dying while still on the court. And that creates a whole set of possibilities.
Source: Washington Examiner